In ancient India there
developed a social system in which people were divided into
separate close communities. These communities are known in
English as caste. The origin of the caste system is in Hinduism,
but it affected the whole Indian society. The caste system in the
religious form is basically a simple division of society in which
there are four castes arranged in a hierarchy and below them the
outcast. But socially the caste system was more complicated, with
much more castes and sub-castes and other divisions. Legally the
government disallows the practice of caste system but has a
policy of affirmative discrimination of the backward classes.